42 replies to this topic 3 votes

[FMH]

Note: Some viewer may find this video disturbing. Strict viewer discretion is advised.




This video was created as an example of the importance of filming the police. Video provides transparency,
accountability, and an accurate account of incidents that occur. It is no secret that the United States has a
serious problem with police abuse, brutality, and corruption. It is essential for civilians to document their
encounters with police officers to ensure transparency, accountability, and safety to all of those involved.



Police departments have, for too long, tried to bully, intimidate, threaten, arrest, or otherwise harass law
abiding citizens from recording the activities of law enforcement in public. Enough is enough! It is time for
all of us to take a stand and expose police brutality when we witness it. Even if the officers behavior is
correct, and justifiable, we still encourage the recording of the police activities for the transparency and
accountability that is desperately needed in many departments.

If you see something, film something, the freedom of press begins with you!'

[shakey]

Not only record, but exercise our right of civilian arrest. When we witness a cop breaking the law, citizens must come together and detain that person. Doesn't matter if they are a cop. They are not above the law, and citizens arrest was one of the ways to show that. But it doesn't help that most people will not lift a finger in the name of what is right....

[jamesyfx]

I've noticed that police in America (in general) do not do their jobs properly. Far too often I've heard stories about them breaking the rules, being too forceful, acting as if they rule the roads... and just generally being corrupt and hypocritical. I'm not saying they're all bad, most aren't... but still a fair few of them don't seem to understand what their job is.

It is about time this kind of thing stopped, I've heard stories from all over the US, but I think it's worse in the South, in general.

[shakey]

jamesyfx, on 08 February 2012 - 20:50, said:

I've noticed that police in America (in general) do not do their jobs properly. Far too often I've heard stories about them breaking the rules, being too forceful, acting as if they rule the roads... and just generally being corrupt and hypocritical. I'm not saying they're all bad, most aren't... but still a fair few of them don't seem to understand what their job is.

It is about time this kind of thing stopped, I've heard stories from all over the US, but I think it's worse in the South, in general.

Totally worse. My uncle has told me some horrible stories about when he was an officer. He couldn't take the corruption and abuse he was seeing, as he is very religious and a good man. He is now a pastor at a church. But what he has seen has totally taken away any trust he has of the system and those working in it. Not only though have his stories shaped my view, there is a ton of evidence online and in the real world to see, that while there are some good cops, they aren't all that great when they still allow the bad cops to get away with what they do. There is a word cops use for helping a criminal for citizens... but they don't seem to ever believe they could be an accomplice, just because they are on the other side of it.

[bane7378]

While a good majority of those scenes were very disturbing and made me very angry that people in power would abuse it such, there were a couple of clips that really didn't belong. The one of the guy on the motorcycle taping the cop that stopped him for instance. I have seen that clip before and the guy was traveling at extreme speeds, I think somewhere in the 120's mph around other cars. I don't care how good you think you are at driving, that was foolish and could have ended horribly. The guy needed to be pulled over. Did the cop need to get out of his car with his gun drawn? Probably not. There was no obvious sign of a weapon. That was probably overstepping his bounds and he probably should be disciplined for drawing his weapon when it wasn't needed. However the guy videotaping was definitely doing something wrong as well. I know part of the story was about him having his property seized but quite frankly I don't blame the law for doing such since they were trying to build a case against him and probably figured they could use his own footage any any other he might have against him.

That by no means discounts the rest of the footage in the original article. Just saying some of it really was modified to show a skewed view of the story. There was a lot of blatant abuse and misuse of power there though.

Just my 2 cents.

[McKay]

For every video of 1 bad cop there are 1000 good cops who do their job, these however go unrecorded.

[AJerman]

I can't encourage people enough to record police. You have EVERY right to do so regardless of what they try to tell you. Police in this country have gotten out of control and seem to forget that their job is as a public servant. They are here to protect the people from anyone or anything that may harm them, and that's it. They have no more rights than any other citizen in the country (as mentioned, citizens can arrest even a police officer if they witness them doing something illegal, but good luck without having a couple other big people on your side because most cops would probably go down shooting even though you're well within your right). Help keep police in check by recording them any and every time you see them doing their duties. If they do nothing wrong, then they have nothing to worry about.

McKay, on 08 February 2012 - 21:28, said:

For every video of 1 bad cop there are 1000 good cops who do their job, these however go unrecorded.

Do they need a shiny star and stamp on their hand to bring home to mom and dad when they do their job the way they are hired and paid to do it? There's no need for pointless recordings of a police officer doing their job, so of course you don't see those as much. You won't see a recording of me doing my job properly either, but if I go crazy and start breaking and stealing stuff, then you'll see the recordings from every security camera. Same needs to apply to police. They shouldn't need a pat on the back for doing their job the way they are supposed to, but they certainly need punishment if they abuse their position.

And now a video of police ****ing up and paying for it:

I have absolutely no sympathy for those cops, and am very impressed by how the public handled the situation. Perhaps the abuse from the citizens wasn't necessary either, but you get what you give.

[_Heracles]

McKay, on 08 February 2012 - 21:28, said:

For every video of 1 bad cop there are 1000 good cops who do their job, these however go unrecorded.

Plenty of shows that do that on TV

[+Another Canuck]

AJerman, on 08 February 2012 - 21:34, said:

And now a video of police ****ing up and paying for it:

I have absolutely no sympathy for those cops, and am very impressed by how the public handled the situation. Perhaps the abuse from the citizens wasn't necessary either, but you get what you give.

1. Those are security guards, not Police.
2. I am willing to bet my life that the idiot on the field was resisting/not releasing his arms and the guards were jabbing him in the shoulder blades, which is exactly what they should be doing.

[AJerman]

Another Canuck, on 08 February 2012 - 21:48, said:

1. Those are security guards, not Police.
2. I am willing to bet my life that the idiot on the field was resisting/not releasing his arms and the guards were jabbing him in the shoulder blades, which is exactly what they should be doing.

I don't know the back story, so I don't know what they are, police assigned to the game or simple security guards, either way, it doesn't really matter. And it doesn't really matter when you have 4 people on top of one, I can assure you they had the strength to detain him without continuously hitting the person. Use of force should only apply in a situation when an officer feels he is in danger otherwise. I can assure you they were in no danger when they were all sitting on top of them. This is the kind of mentality that lets police and security officers get away with something like this. From here http://www.cops.usdo....asp?item=1374: "…the legal test of excessive force…is whether the police officer reasonably believed that such force was necessary to accomplish a legitimate police purpose…" Granted this isn't in the US, but with 4 officers, I can assure you it's not necessary to beat someone repeatedly to make an arrest or detain someone.

[+Another Canuck]

AJerman, on 08 February 2012 - 22:07, said:

I don't know the back story, so I don't know what they are, police assigned to the game or simple security guards, either way, it doesn't really matter. And it doesn't really matter when you have 4 people on top of one, I can assure you they had the strength to detain him without continuously hitting the person. Use of force should only apply in a situation when an officer feels he is in danger otherwise. I can assure you they were in no danger when they were all sitting on top of them. This is the kind of mentality that lets police and security officers get away with something like this. From here http://www.cops.usdo....asp?item=1374: "…the legal test of excessive force…is whether the police officer reasonably believed that such force was necessary to accomplish a legitimate police purpose…" Granted this isn't in the US, but with 4 officers, I can assure you it's not necessary to beat someone repeatedly to make an arrest or detain someone.

Get four of your friends (no scrawny wimps). Have one of them lie down with their arms under their chest.

Try to get them behind his back.

[dj6ross]

I can't stand the County cops in the area I live in. The city police and state police are fine but the County cops here act pretty badly. Very disrespectful in general.

[AJerman]

Another Canuck, on 08 February 2012 - 22:11, said:

Get four of your friends (no scrawny wimps). Have one of them lie down with their arms under their chest.

Try to get them behind his back.

I don't see where that would be difficult. One on his legs, one on his back/head, one on each arm. I can assure you it can be done without much issue.

Also, I want to clarify a little on the topic so no one gets in trouble. There are a few states that aren't single party consent states, meaning you may need all parties to consent to AUDIO recording. If you live in one of those states, you may have issues when trying to record police. Most states however are single party consent states meaning if you are one of the parties involved, you can record without permission of the police. This almost always, if not always applies to audio recordings only though. Check your local laws just to be sure.

[Flae_qui]

McKay, on 08 February 2012 - 21:28, said:

For every video of 1 bad cop there are 1000 good cops who do their job, these however go unrecorded.

yet to met 1...

[Billaguana]

As far as I know, no one in this thread has any of the backstory to any of the events shown in the video, so this is why I say what it is I say.

The actions that they take in these videos may be viewed as over done, however I would like for you to think about what type of situation they are in. They are facing people they don't know in possibly hostile situations. Now, again because I don't know the backstory to the situations, they more than likely are not just arresting them because they feel like it, they are detaining them because they have broken a law or are suspected of doing such. They have every right, and this is for their own safety(and yours mind you), to take the proper action to get said person in the proper detaining area. Although you deem this as improper, I would like to ask what you would do if you were in a situation where you were facing an unknown, possibly hostile person?

I would just like to again emphasize that we should treat our police with more respect than we do for they are doing their job, which is to protect us. If they ask for some privacy, then it is privacy that they should receive.